And then there were three
by Author1
Summary: A series of scenes around Ginny's first pregnancy.
1. Chapter 1

" Uncle Harry, look snakes,"said Teddy beaming into the glass. Teddy was unaware of Harry's past, specifically that he used to have parseltongue. Or about the basilisk in the Chamber Of Secrets. Or that he had released a snake from the zoo at the age of ten. For some reason Teddy had always loved snakes, to be honest, he didn't want to scare Teddy by telling him about his past. Although, he was a bit scared that this might develop into an affiliation with Slytherin, but Harry chose to ignore that at the moment. Harry would always indulge Teddy.

The snake house was Teddy's favourite place in the zoo.

" What type is it?" said Harry pointing to the sign.

" Ma, Ma," was all Teddy could read.

" Marine File Snake," said Harry. "They come from India." The snake was swimming around a clear tank of water.

" Wow," said Teddy pushing his nose to the glass. "India," repeated Teddy. Ginny arrived back with the ice-cream. Teddy took his, thanking Ginny, and then proceeded to press his noise back against the glass. Gobbling his ice-cream down in about thirty seconds flat.

"Teddy," said Ginny laughing and taking a tissue from her bag. Wiping the glass and Teddy's nose which were both smeared with chocolate.

" I think we should go and wash up," said Harry, indicating to Teddy's hands that were now stuck together with chocolate.

" Come on," said Harry

" We're coming back, right?" said Teddy.

" Yes, Yes," said Harry virtually dragging him away to the toilets indicated on a sign just outside the building. Ginny sat on the bench inside the building and finished her ice -cream. She had to admit she didn't really like snakes. She didn't have a phobia or anything, just didn't trust them. She had decided long ago that this was a due to her first year, and she really needed to grow out of it. Her thoughts, for some reason, sprang to the comment the ice-cream seller had made.

" You've got a gorgeous husband and child." She had said after Harry and Teddy had disappeared into the snake house and Ginny was at the front of the queue. For some reason today, unlike every other day, she hadn't corrected her, just smiled. A lot of people had made that assumption before, in fact, there had been a few reports that she had, "The Chosen One's love child." After she had been spotted wheeling Teddy around in his buggy, just after the war. It hadn't helped that he turned into a mini clone of Harry every time they were together. Harry appeared and sat back down beside her, she didn't say anything but he answered her unasked question.

" He's about 50 yards behind me. Says he's old enough to walk back by himself." She knew that Harry would have kept a very good eye on him though, and he couldn't get into any trouble. Within seconds Teddy appeared at the door and went back to pressing his nose up against the glass. They were alone, who else on a hot summer's day would be in a heated snake house?

" He's enjoying himself," said Ginny.

" Yeah," muttered Harry. Then he said quietly, so it couldn't be heard by Teddy. "Are you OK?" He asked, her eyes shot down to the ground and then back to Harry's face.

"Yeah," she managed, looking at the door in case there was anybody else arriving. He reached out and touched her chin, tipping her face so that all she could see were his eyes.

"You're OK, right?" he asked again. His eyes nervously twitching back and forth. It was a nervous tic he had, and it always gave him away.

"I'm more than fine, I'm perfect," she said grinning. But it was too late, he knew something was up. She took his hand and kissed it before letting it drop. " Don' t worry, it's nothing bad. I'll tell you later, OK?" She asked. He could probably see the relief in her face, to actually be able to discuss it. So he grabbed her round the waist, pulled her towards him, and kissed her.

" Ew, that's disgusting," said Teddy, whose attention had obviously been drawn away from the snakes.

XXXXX

"Tell me more about catching a snitch." Said Teddy, jumping up and down in bed, as she was trying to leave the room for the tenth time that night. His pyjamas were too small for him now, so his ankles and stomach were exposed. She made a mental note to buy him some more. Had Andromeda been feeding him Bertie Baulthroods growing potion? Because he was growing so fast. He was going to need brand new clothes every six months at this rate, she thought.

"Teddy, please at least try to go to sleep," she said.

" Why don't you play Quidditch any more Auntie Ginny?" He had got stuck on calling them uncle and auntie, in fact, he insisted on calling the whole Weasley family auntie and uncle.

" You know the story better than I do Teddy, I can't play with this arm injury, and the healers told me not to play professionally again." She said it in a monotone voice, as if reciting from a script. He must have heard this story at least 200 times. She had walked across the room and tucked him in again. She kissed his forehead. "Good night," she said. As she switched the light off, leaving only the soft glow of a nightbug in a cage in the corner of the room. The nightbug was a gift from Luna that she had caught on one of her expeditions. It glowed in the dark and gave a soft glow, like a muggle nightlight. They usually lived underground and the light helped them see, they were very rare. As she left the room she said, " Sweet dreams.".

She walked back into her and Harry's room ,seeing Harry sitting up in bed, reading the Daily Prophet with his pyjamas on and newly dried hair. ( He had been going into the shower when she had first tried to put Teddy to bed, had it taken that long?)She sat down next to him on the bed and he glanced up from the Quidditch results. " The Harpies aren't doing too well this year," he concluded.

"Yeah," she said. Not knowing how to feel, was it was her fault? She didn't get injured on purpose!

"Ok?" he asked

" I had a bit of trouble getting him to settle down," she said.

"That's not what I mean and you know it," he said. Confident that he might get something out of her now.

"I've been thinking about something," she said.

"Am I gonna have to beat it out of you?" He said jokingly, and then, before she could answer, " Or kiss it out of you?" He said kissing butterfly kisses down her neck, until he reached her shoulder, where he blew a raspberry on her exposed skin. He always got silly when he was around Teddy all day.

Ginny giggled, "Harry," she squealed. He pulled back and looked at her.

"OK," she said. " Today, the ice-cream lady said what a gorgeous family we had and I didn't correct her."

"So," he shrugged. " We're never going to meet her again," he said. " You can go back and tell her if you want."

" Harry, I'm thinking of coming off the potion." There, she had let the cat out of the cauldron, so to speak. He shrugged again

" There are charms that are just as effective," he said looking through the pile of books on his table.

" Are you taking Ron pills or something?" she asked.

"What?" he asked. Then realization dawned across his face. Before he could speak she said.

" Do you think we should try for a baby?" she asked. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

"You really want to try?" he asked.

" Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a while. I can't play quidditch, my new job is working from home, we've been married for 4 years. Plus, and most importantly, I want to," she said. " But if you don't want to..."

" No," he said to quickly."I would love for us to try and have a baby," he said excitedly.

" You've been thinking about this longer than me, haven't you?" she asked

" A while," he agreed. She was apprehensive, but she was also excited.

" It's a pretty big step," she said.

"You don't think we can cope?" he asked.

"I didn't say that," she said. "Just that it's a big step." She paused to think before speaking again, " Do you think that we'd be good parents?"

" Teddy didn't turn out too bad," he said.

" He lives with Andromeda most of the time," said Ginny.

" I think we'd be great parents," he said, and for some reason his chest swelled. She saw at that moment how important it was to him. She was the person who brought it up, she was the person who wanted to try, but for some reason his enthusiasm had thrown her. She had been expecting to defend her position, but now she was against it, with no real reason. There was no reason to debate.

" You just see it as a chance to get more sex don't you?" she grinned

" I suppose that may be one of the perks," he said, raising his eyebrows.

"That's not exactly a turn on Harry," she said.

"Bet you still can't resist me though" he smiled and started to suggestively kiss her behind the ear. (A place he knew she loved.)At that point the door to their room was pushed open. Teddy was standing there in his too small pyjamas and rubbing his eyes clutching his toy hippogriff. " I can't sleep in my bed. Can I sleep in here?" he asked.

"Of course," Harry said, walking over, picking him up, and placing him on the bed. " What are you scared of? Was it the tickle monster?" he said tickling him. Teddy laughed and shouted back.

"Uncle Harry, I'm too old for that."

" You're never too old. Auntie Ginny gets woken up by the tickle monster every morning, don't you?" Harry looked at her grinning. She was taking her pyjamas from underneath her pillow to get changed in the other room.

She walked over to Harry, " Oh yes, every morning." She agreed in a voice that indicated that this was not a good thing, but that passed Teddy by. She managed to whisper to Harry,

"Maybe the perks will start tomorrow," in his ear before she sashayed out of the room. She knew, without looking, exactly where Harry's eyes were fixed at that moment.

_Should I continue with this story? Please review._

_Thank you to my beta for being brilliant!_


	2. Chapter 2

" Good morning, birthday boy," he heard as he opened his eyes. He saw Ginny's face, or rather a pink blob with red streaks around it, that he recognised as Ginny's face without his specs on. She was running her hand through his hair and moved one to pick his glasses from the cabinet on the side of the bed. He moved his head so that she could put them on him, afterwards she kissed the tip of his nose. She had always said that he didn't look right without his glasses. He lay back down on the pillow.

" Feel older and wiser?" She asked, smiling.

"No, exactly the same. Exactly how long have you been watching me?" He asked, ignoring her trying to tease him about getting older, it would be her turn in less than a fortnight!

Before he had awoke, she had turned over and was watching his face. They were practically nose to nose.

"Not long, besides, you're sexy when you sleep." She said, hoping the fact that he had only just woke up would mean he couldn't think of a comeback.

"Only when I sleep?" He asked.

" Definitely only when you sleep," she said smiling at him and moving in to kiss him. She would have loved to spend the day in bed, just them, but due to Harry sleeping in, there was only ten minutes before most of her family would descend upon them. The thought of getting caught by the parents rang through her head. It was not conducive to an erotic atmosphere.

She pulled back, " I'm a stupid woman for not waking you earlier, I will make it up to you later though." She grinned and they both knew exactly what she meant. "Unfortunately, there's only enough time left for you to open a special present before we get descended upon." She said standing up, putting on her dressing gown, taking the wand from her pocket and accioing the present from over the room, and handing him a wrapped box.

He took the box and sat up in bed, his head resting on the wall behind them.

"Why can't your parents see? Is it kinky?" He joked.

She put on a husky voice, like a '30's film star, "That depends on whether you've been a bad boy," she joked.

"Never," he said, fluttering his eyelashes attempting to look angelic.

" How boring, but surely I would never have married anybody like that." She joked back and sat down on the bed." Harry stop stalling and open the present," she said.

" Maybe I don't want to, maybe I'm going to save it until after the party."

He hated being told what to do, and he knew what to do to get Ginny riled up. This was going to be interesting. He placed the present on the windowsill, while she gave him an icy stare and sat back down on the bed.

"Fine," she said very agitated and turned around. She attempted to walk out of the room, managed to take half a step before he shouted, " Gin," and she turned round.

He grinned and leant over to pick up the present, undoing the paper very slowly, constantly looking at her face, for her reaction. He looked down at the open packet. It was a muggle pregnancy test. His heart skipped a beat.

" You're... we're...how..why...how long." There were a thousand things running through his head at this moment and one word of each of them seemed to seep out of his mouth without him wanting to say anything. Before he could say anything coherent she answered.

" Yes, I'm pregnant. Yes, we're having a baby. The two seem to be mutually exclusive. If you don't know how by now, there's no hope for you. Why a muggle pregnancy test?"

He nodded, still smiling, and looking back and forth between the box and her face. " I wanted you to be the first to know. I can imagine how long it will take the news to spread if I'd gone to St Mungo's. I'm a week late," she said. " Whether we want to tell people now or wait, I assumed would be .." he had stopped listening and had got up from the bed and was virtually swinging her round the room in excitement. "Harry," she said.

"Have I told you before how much I love you?" He asked, putting her down again, rubbing their noses together.

"Not this morning," she said. " I love you too," she said, drawing a hand across his face. He really needed a shave. She drew in for a kiss. His hand subconsciously fell to her stomach. Once they separated he managed to speak

" But you only came off the potion a few weeks ago," he said.

"Four," she corrected, " Guess it's just those Weasley genes shining through," she said.

XXX

Later that day Ginny was in the kitchen trying to feed Dominique, whilst Bill and Fleur were upstairs trying to convince Victoire to have an afternoon nap. Ron and Hermione were curled up on the other sofa, as thick as thieves. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley has popped home to get some more plates for the cake. He loved times like this, when nothing was happening. He watched Ginny trying to feed Dominique and imagined a dark haired, brown eyed baby being fed in their kitchen, and he grinned at the prospect of what was to come. Hermione gave a loud laugh that brought him back to the room and he looked over at her, but her and Ron had gone back to whispering, and Ron was pushing her hair back behind her ear. He didn't remember him and Ginny ever being so sickly in public, he liked that his friends were happy, but did they have to do it in front of him? He got enough stick from Ron about Ginny. He made a mental note to tease them more, as they deserved it.

Teddy was sitting in his lap, colouring in a colouring book that, Harry assumed, Hermione had brought for him as the page he was colouring was of "Rhys the invincible 1066-1096." Harry's first thought was that he couldn't have been that invincible if he died at 30!

" Teddy, can you keep a secret?" He asked. Teddy had a thing about secrets, loved them, always had.

"Yeah," he said, excited.

" How many people do you see in the kitchen?" He asked. Teddy looked at him strangely,

" Two," he replied.

" I see three," Harry said. Teddy picked Harry's glasses off his face and put them on himself,

"What's that for?" Harry asked.

" Just checking, thought you might need some new ones, seeing as you see three people in the kitchen," Teddy said. Harry laughed and took the glasses back.

"Ginny's pregnant, we're going to have a baby," Harry said.

" A baby?" Teddy asked.

"Yes," said Harry, looking at Teddy. Teddy had gone very quiet and looked at the floor, not saying anything. "Teddy, you OK," he asked. He continued colouring in his book. " Teddy," he said, tickling him. Teddy looked up at him, not laughing, and tears were flowing out of his eyes.

"You're not going to want me around when you have a new baby to look after. All your time is going to be spent on the new baby, and there won't be any room for me," he said. Harry didn't know if the last bit was metaphorical or if he meant the available bedrooms. He was preceptive though, he hadn't expected him to act like this. Before Harry could speak he heard an answer

"Teddy, I'm going to need you more than ever. I'm going to be rushed off my feet. I'm going to need you to help me," said Ginny, now standing in the doorway, with Dominique on her hip. "I'm also going to need you to be a big brother to the baby. Would you like that?" She asked. He jumped up at her and cuddled her round the neck, making Dominique cry.

" As long as it's not a smelly girl," said Teddy.

"We'll do our best," laughed Ginny.

" Will I still have a bedroom here?" He asked.

" Of course," both Harry and Ginny said at the same time.

"You will always be welcome here, I promise you that," said Harry, holding out his little finger. It was a little promise sign they had developed together, linking both small fingers together. At that point they became acutely aware that every pair of eyes in the room was on them, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had arrived back and were standing watching them. You could never keep secrets for long in this family.

_Apologies for an appaling chapter, please keep reading they will get better, i just had to show the scences in this chapter and couldn't write them any better. The next chapters are better i promise._

_Thank you to my beta, you're still brilliant!_


	3. Chapter 3

" Good evening sleepyhead." Harry said as she sat on the edge of the bed, travelling cloak still on, having just arrived back from work. She opened her eyes, looked at him, and turned to see the clock, then back to him, giving him a kiss.

" I didn't realise how late it was. I was just resting my eye's," she said. Harry smiled back, knowing she was lying really badly.

" Still feeling tired?" He asked.

" Not as much, it's getting better, just a busy day. People are noticing though, I had lunch with Luna today and she asked me, in that special way of hers, why I'd put weight on."

" Did you tell her," he asked.

"Of course, and I reminded her I'd put it in my letters to."

" What did she say?"

" Congratulations, and to avoid symlymn as they tend to attach themselves to pregnant women and make them sick, irrational, and emotional. Apparently they're easily confused with pregnancy symptoms all the time." He went to ask, but before he could say anything, Ginny shrugged, meaning she had no idea what she was talking about either.

"Andromeda dropped Teddy off for a few hours this afternoon as well. He's obsessed with the bump," and her hands travelled down to her increasing bump. " He asked how the baby got inside me," Harry grinned.

" What did you say?"

" I said that when a man and a woman love each other, get married, and then decide they want a baby, they have a special cuddle that puts a baby in the lady's tummy."

" I told him he'd find out later, your explanation's much better than mine," he grinned and kissed her again.

" How was work?" She asked. He was always careful with what he said about work, aware that any scrap of information was important. She could see him monitoring his words.

"Odd," he said, then decided he could elaborate more, " I get the feeling that people are talking about me. Conversations stop when I walk in a room"

" They're probably discussing that permanent smile on your face," she said

" Yeah, you're probably right," he said, although his face said that he was not entirely convinced. She changed the subject.

" Our friends at Witch Wizarding Weekly have been talking again." She said as she held up a copy of the magazine, which had a picture of Ginny shopping with a red circle around her stomach. " They seem convinced they're right this time," she said.

" You know it isn't going to be a secret for much longer," he said, his fingers travelling to the bump . At first he had been excited by the bumps in her chest growing, especially when she stopped wearing a bra around the house, as the underwiring was uncomfortable. Since she had been starting to show, he was obsessed with her stomach, kissing it and talking to it. When he first felt the baby kick, he was going to go apoplectic.

" All ready for tomorrow?" He asked her, breaking her thoughts. She shrugged, " What?" He asked, knowing that the shrug meant something was wrong.

"It's just walking in to St. Mungo's maternity department together, that's it, everybody's going to know. I like it only being who we told who know."

" I want to sing it from the rooftops," Harry said

" Please don't, I've heard your singing voice," she joked. He ignored it.

" I know what you mean, but everybody's gonna know sooner or later anyway, bumps growing every day," he said, absent mindedly putting his hands on her stomach, her fingers joined his.

" I know, I'm probably just overreacting because our secret will be out." He didn't say anything, she changed the subject. " Shall I order tea in?" She asked.

"Umm," he said, clearly not thinking about food.

XXXXXXXXX

She was ready for her appointment quicker than expected and was waiting for him by the floo, dressed inthe usual, jeans and a long floaty top ( in a desperate attempt to hide the bump, but even she could tell it wasn't working). "Harry," she said, for the tenth time that day. He seemed to think having leave from work meant that he didn't have to get up until ten minutes before they were due anywhere.

"Coming," he moaned and arrived in the living room. " Your appointment's not for another five minutes, we've got bags of time," he said, picking up the powder and the two of them stepping into the floo and asking for St. Mungo's. It was dangerous for Ginny to apparate now that she was pregnant and flooing had become their main mode of travel. They arrived in plenty of time and headed for the sixth floor, where the maternity department was now. They had previously had "discussions" about him coming, her face was recognisable, his was ubiquitous. There was no way he would not be recognised. They may as well place an announcement in the Prophet. He was right though, that he had never avoided anything due to his profile before and he wasn't going to start now. When they reached the sixth floor and the double doors, she took a deep breath, held out her hand to join his, and they pushed through the doors together.

There was a receptionist sitting behind a desk and a group of chairs with a table piled high with magazines. The waiting room was busy and there were a few children running toy cars up and down the table, with their mothers chatting to each other on the table. They confirmed their appointment with the receptionist and went to wait for the their designated healer. Harry's hand stayed in hers, his thumb running circles around the palm of her hand. She wasn't sure if this was a nervous tick or him trying to reassure her. Her attention was taken away when one of the toy cars sped off the table and stopped at her feet. She picked it up (taking her hand from Harry's) and the biggest child ran up to them. She wordlessly placed the toy in his hand and he gave her a toothless grin and ran off back to the group. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the talking witches nod her hand towards Harry and she knew the game was up. She smiled at him. At that point a healer came up and shouted, " Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"

"Goodbye privacy," rang through her head. All eyes turned towards them. They stood up together, all eyes were on Harry's forehead looking for the scar, that his fringe covered. She didn't see that scar anymore. She noticed the scars on his hand and chest, but until anybody looked she forgot about the scar on his forehead. She could tell he was nervous and intentionally squeezed his hand. He smiled back and they realised they had reached their examination room.

"Please sit down," the healer indicated to the chairs at the side of the desk. They sat down, " I'm healer Smith. I will be your healer throughout this pregnancy and birth. I understand this is your first pregnancy, so if you have questions before I do your scan..." they both shook their heads. " OK, here are some leaflets that you can read at your leisure that may answer any questions you can think of later. Anything else just keep a note and ask me next time." Ginny looked at the cover of the leaflet entitled, "Expecting Your Magical Child". Hermione had stocked her up on pregnancy books, she didn't know why she had these books, but had gratefully borrowed them.

"OK lets get on with the scan then," she smiled at them and gestured towards the examination table. Ginny stuffed the leaflet in her bag and stood up to lay on the bed. She laid down as Harry stood to the side and held her hand. " According to your notes, your in your 12th week. Is that correct?"

" I think so, yes," Ginny said.

"OK," the healer waved her wand over Ginny's stomach reciting a very complicated spell, Ginny could only hear the "demonstro" and "pectus". There was a strong beating sound that came out of the tip of the healer's wand. " That's the baby's heartbeat, seems perfectly normal." She stated, looking at the excitement in Harry's and Ginny's faces. " I'll leave it on for longer," she said as she cast other spells, which caused graphs to appear in the air, the sound could still be heard. " All your blood results show your perfectly well as well," she said explaining to them what she was looking at. Then the last spells were cast, which projected an image from Ginny's stomach. " According to this, your dates seem correct and the baby is a perfect size," she said turning the image around. Ginny spotted Harry staring open mouthed at the picture. She smiled at him, not that he noticed, but it finally felt real. She turned back and the healer was still turning the picture around.

" Is there something wrong?"

" No, everything is fine Mrs Potter. Do you want to know the sex of the baby?"

" No," they both said at the same time

" We want it to be a surprise," he said.

" Very well. When you're ready you can come back to the desk, then you can collect your scan picture. We can book your next appointment and you can take some literature on birthing plans."

She smiled at their beaming faces, flicked her wand so the beating sound stopped, and headed back to the desk. Leaving them alone for a minute

Ginny sat up on the bed and Harry whispered in her ear, "That was amazing". She wished that smile would never leave his face.

_Apologies for my bad Latin,I took the words froman internet dictionary. I can correct them if they're wrong._

_Thank you to my beta, You rule._


	4. Chapter 4

Ginny sat in the living room, she saw the Daily Prophet discarded on the coffee table. It had a huge headline stating "POTTER PREGNANCY". It was the reason she was staying inside and frustrated.

There were places she had to go, like the Quidditch match tomorrow. That was her job, but she knew all the camera's would be turned to her. She had the idea of the newspaper sending recorded matches over for her to watch, but she hadn't done anything yet as the news had only broke yesterday morning. She was being an ostrich about it. If she didn't tell them, it wasn't happening.

Witch Wizarding Weekly had the exclusive, with a bystander in the maternity department confirming that they had been there waiting in the maternity department and had gone in for an appointment, together. St Mungo's stated that they could not confirm if anybody was a patient, nor disclose any patient's personal information. The prophet had picked it up. They had tried asking her for a comment, thinking the fact that she worked there would help, and they'd get a comment. She had refused.

Being in the media box at matches protected her from the glare somewhat, but then every week Harry had gone to watch her play, they had got a picture from somewhere. That seemed like another lifetime ago now. She had lots of decisions to make.

She sighed and grabbed the scan picture on the table where it had been left awaiting pasting in the baby photo album. It reminded her why she was going through this, despite her misgivings. The doorbell rang. She put the picture back down on the table and stood up, walking towards the front door. She secretly prayed nobody untoward had got through the wards to their house. She wouldn't be responsible for her actions today. Nobody had broken through them before, but then she remembered her dad telling her a muggle expression, " there's a first time for everything," and smiled.

She reached the front door and looked through the spy hole, she could have cast a spell, but it would take longer. She saw her dad standing there, looking up at the spy hole and waving. She opened the door. " Dad, nice to see you. I was just thinking of you," she said. It was unusual for her to see her dad by himself. It was common knowledge that Mrs. Weasley wanted a girl and when she got one, she had never let go. Despite her moaning about Ginny's lack of finesse with household spells, her clothing, and general demeanour. In fact the only thing she didn't complain about was Harry, she thought that magic shone out of his backside.

" To what do I owe this pleasure?" She joked.

" Your mother sent me over. She said I had to bring this present over now, that I had to check on you."

" Check on me?" She asked moving out of the way so that he could step through into the house, which, for some reason, he didn't.

" Yeah, did you see the Prophet?"

" Oh, don't worry. You can report back that everything is fine. You coming in?" She asked as he was still waiting on the doorstop. It was direct, but she felt like that today. He reached out to the side and picked up a huge item, she didn't see what it was at first, but then it clicked. It was the rocking chair that was in her parent's room. It had been in their family nursery for years. " Dad, I can't take that, it's yours and mum's," she said.

"She said to say it's for your nursery now. We've got no call for it any more."

" You don't have to, we can easily get another one," he shook his head.

" Wouldn't be the same. Besides she was pretty insistent, I don't think you have a choice," he said. And carried it into the hallway. " Where do you want it?"

" We haven't got a nursery set up yet, so the living room will do fine for the time being." He put it in the living room in the spare corner, where plants or Christmas trees usually went. As he put it down, she saw the bow across the seat, wrapped around the arm rests.

" Thanks dad," she said. " It's really nice."

" It wasn't a problem, thank your mother not me. It was her idea," he grinned at her. He glanced at the coffee table covered in magazines and saw one of Hermione's muggle magazines on the table. She had brought a few over as she wanted to show an article about equal pay to Ginny. It was some magazine that discussed "social issues" as well as fashion and gossip. Ginny had tuned out after a few minutes of Hermione talking and the subject was changed .Hermione had left them for her to read later. " Can I look at those," he said, interested.

"Yeah, if you want," she said. " Cup of tea dad?" She asked. He glanced up from flicking through the magazine.

" Yes please," he said. She walked into the kitchen, tapped the kettle with her wand (which had been in her back pocket, and she heard her mothers voice in her head saying, " A moment in the pocket, a lifetime with one buttock." She still kept it there though. Harry's influence.) and poured the tea. By the time she came back her dad was sitting on the settee, looking at the scan picture.

" I hadn't seen this before," he said. "It's brilliant isn't it? It's so clear, you can see everything can't you? Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah," she said and sat down on the chair beside the sofa. She'd had people clucking over the picture already, she didn't need another one. "You OK," he said as he took his tea from the table and sipped. She tensed up and sipped her tea before responding.

"Yeah," she said. Giving a face that meant, don't ask any more.

"Just like your mother, too stubborn to discuss things. Think you can solve everything by yourself."

" I don't think that," she said, exasperated.

"Prove it," he said.

"How am I supposed to do that?" She asked.

"Is it Harry?" He asked, ignoring her trying to get out of the question.

"No, no it's nothing like that," she said.

"OK then, is it the baby? Is there something wrong?"

" No, nothing's wrong. It's just a bit overwhelming," she said. "There's so much to think about. Our life is going to change."

All the information was leaking from her mouth, she wasn't thinking like she was talking to her father. In fact, she'd stopped thinking at all. It was like a valve had been opened and everything gushed out at once.

" I've never looked after a baby for more than a day, neither has Harry. How will I know what to do? What if the baby doesn't like me? What if I forget and leave it somewhere? It's not like there's a parenting manual," she said.

As soon as she said it, she knew she shouldn't have. Her dad was not the person to be having this conversation with. She mentally slapped herself, and told herself to shut up. It was done though, despite her misgivings, and wierdly, saying it out loud made the feelings she had bottled up seem stupid. Her father chuckled.

" Before your mother had Bill, she used to have nightmares. She was so scared. Don't tell your mother I told you this, but once she left him outside Flourish and Blotts and came home, went back after five minutes and he was still happily sitting in his pram. She cried for days, said she wasn't fit to be a mother. You see," and he leant over, touching her arm, " everybody makes mistakes, and trust me, you'll make mistakes. It doesn't mean you're not fit to be a mother. It means you're human. And worrying about them isn't going to stop it happening. Everybody's scared. I hate to say this, but it doesn't get any easier either. But the first time you see that baby, you know that it's the most perfect child, and the most important thing you're ever do and everything will fall into place ," he grinned at her. She grinned back. " I think you need to discuss this with Harry as well though," he said.

Her head fell and she looked at the ground." I can't spoil it. He's so excited. If I tell him, he's going to worry about me. It's what he always wanted."

" He's probably feeling exactly the same as you. It's his first baby too," he said. "I bet he'd feel relieved that you feel the same, and even if he doesn't, he'd be happy you're being honest."

"OK, I know you're right," she said. Biting her bottom lip, which she only did when she was nervous.

So that was the plan for tonight. Tell Harry.

_Thank you to my beta, brilliant as ever!_

_Happy Birthday to creative touch. Hope you enjoy! _


	5. Chapter 5

As she stirred the pasta, she felt a pair of hands grip her waist and a kiss along the back of her neck. The person's head rested on her shoulder.

"Guess who?" He said, his fingers travelling under her top. First over her bump and then further up.

"Well, considering where your hands are, you better be my husband," Ginny said, smiling.

" What if I'm not?"

" Well, he's supposed to be home soon and he's a big bloke, very jealous," she joked. He had told her about what had happened at Bill and Fleur's wedding. He whispered in her ear.

"How long have I got before he arrives, I can be very quick," he said back. She laughed and hit his arm, which was still under her top. She turned round and kissed him, his hands now moving up and down her back. When their lips separated she said.

"Dinner will be ready soon, but first we've got something to discuss."

"Is this about last night?" He asked, sincerely. They had a discussion last night about the baby, she had taken her fathers advice and talked to Harry. He had said that he was scared too, he had had a nightmare where her and the baby were kidnapped , due to his profile, and it was all his fault. They had come to the conclusion that they needed to speak to each other more. Also, Ginny was looking into muggle classes or "borrowing" one of her many sibling's children.

"No," she said glancing over at the coffee table in the living room, where Teddy was reading his school book, finger tracing the words. Harry and Andromeda had insisted that he go to a muggle school until Hogwarts. It was to help him to integrate into muggle society. Tonks had gone to a muggle school too, although Ginny had never known this until Teddy was school age. She pulled Harry over to the kitchen table, out of view of the living room.

"It's not bump is it?" He asked, looking really worried.

"Bump is fine. Nothing to worry about. It's Teddy," and she paused for a breath, although it sounded like dramatic effect. "When I picked Teddy up from school, the teacher wanted to speak to his guardian. She spoke to me after she found out I was your wife, as it involved you." He looked intrigued. What could he have to do with anything Teddy had done at school? She continued.

"Apparently from the start of this year he's been getting in trouble. It started off as being cheeky and talking back. Last week his teacher found some of his friends on the roof and Teddy screaming at them. Mostly, that he didn't need parents as his godfather was Harry Potter who kills bad men, and he's better than parents. Today he went to school with turquoise hair, " Harry didn't speak. " I think he just wants attention. I tried to speak to him before you got home, but he clammed up around me. Perhaps you'll have more luck," she said.

"I'll speak to him and see if I can get him to talk." He said as he took his glasses off, putting them on the table, gripping the top of his nose with his hands, trying to draw the tension out. Ginny perched herself on his knee and kissed him between the eyes.

"What's the matter ?" She asked

"Nothing," he said picking his glasses up from the table and placing them back on before kissing her again, trying to reassure her, but she could read him better than that! She didn't say anything, she knew better than to push him for an answer. He was used to being alone and doing things by himself. His childhood meant he didn't trust anyone. It had taken her a long time to get him to trust her. When she was younger she had been really jealous when him, Ron, and Hermione had gathered in corners in whispered voices.

" It's just been a bad day. I found out there's a really big case at work, but I've been left out. I'm doing pointless paperwork. I went and appealed and was refused. And now Teddy..."

"Harry, he probably just doesn't want to send you away on a long term mission when we have a baby coming. You don't know how long the work will take, that last case you were on took a year and half. He's trying to help you with any conflicts from your home life. Everybody knows how good you are at your job, you don't have to prove yourself you know. You only declined that award last month."

"I just hate being out of the loop."

"You're a control freak, that's what you are," she joked. "Let somebody else get stressed for once, OK?" She said.

"Yeah," he said. He didn't sound convinced, but it was the best she'd got, and he knew it.

"You can talk to Teddy later, " she said, having now seen his mood.

"No, I'll talk to him now, no time like the present." He said, she stood up and let him move.

"Do you want some help?" She asked.

" No, it'll seem like we're ganging up on him." Harry said and kissed her "Give us a couple of minutes and then come in."

He walked into the living room, taking off his travelling cloak to reveal the black trousers and green shirt underneath.

" How you doing Teddy?" He asked.

"Uncle Harry," he said, running up to him and grabbing his leg.

"Let me sit down first," he said heading toward the sofa.

"What did you do today at school then?"

"Nothing," he grinned. It was a personal joke, whenever they asked each other what they had done that day they always answered nothing. It was a way of Harry not saying anything about work and Teddy had copied him.

"Teddy, Auntie Ginny told me about what the teacher said at school, and that you wouldn't speak to her about it." Ginny had already tried to start a conversation, Teddy knew that she would tell Harry as soon as he was home. No point in pussy footing around. Teddy pulled himself back on the sofa, causing the leather to creak and him look even smaller, as his feet dangled over the edge, not touching the floor. He still had his school uniform on, and his white socks gleamed out from beneath his now slightly too short black trousers, he's growing so fast he needs clothes every month thought Harry. Teddy looked scared and avoided Harry's gaze and desperately tried to look anywhere else but at his godfather.

"I can see I'm going to have to tickle this out of you!" He said, grabbing Teddy and tickling him. Teddy was quickly gasping for air from laughing so hard.

"Hey, I can't have my two favourite men hurting each other now can I?" Said Ginny, now standing next to the sofa. Tea towel over one shoulder and wand in one hand, with a set jaw as in mock annoyance. Teddy got his breath back, Harry looked at Ginny and answered her unasked question by quickly shaking his head, Teddy didn't notice. "Auntie Ginny it's Uncle Harry's fault. I think he needs to be told off," said Teddy. Ginny smiled at Harry and looked back at Teddy.

"Don't worry, he'll get his punishment tonight." She said, knowing that Teddy didn't understand the undertones of the statement. She remembered watching a film once (they had taken him as a treat to the cinema) and although it was a kids film, there was one "shit". Ginny and Harry had turned red and looked at each other, Teddy, who was still licking his ice lolly, laughed and whispered to her about the character, "He's mad, why did he say ship?" She could have kissed him for mishearing! She got on her knees, so she was level with Teddy on the sofa.

"Teddy, we are both," and she pointed between herself and Harry, as if to emphasise the word, "very worried about you. We wanted to know if there's anything we can do to help you." The fact that he was telling muggles about wizarding matters could be dealt with later, the teacher had put it down to an over-active imagination. He shook his head and didn't answer, desperately trying to avoid their gaze. Teddy started to cry and Harry hugged him. Teddy buried himself in Harry's chest.

"Teddy, we didn't mean to scare you, we're just trying to understand. It's important to us that you're happy." Harry said.

Through sniffles, Teddy said, " It's just sometimes, when my friends talk about their mum and dad's ,I get angry and bad things happen when I'm angry."

Harry spoke first, "Teddy, I don't think I ever told you this, but when I was older than you, somebody insulted my parents and do you know what I did without trying?" Teddy, whose face was still buried in Harry's chest, shook his head. "They blew up like a balloon and floated away." Teddy, still stifling his tears, gave a chuckle.

"Uncle Harry, you were naughty," he laughed.

"But I got into a lot of trouble, all because I didn't talk about what was upsetting me." It was stretching the truth, but he could have gotten into big trouble. "Why do you feel worse now?" He asked Teddy. Teddy didn't say anything, didn't move, didn't attempt to say anything. Harry ruffled his hair. "Is it because of the baby?" Teddy said nothing "You feel you don't get as much attention? You feel it's not fair that the baby will have parents?" It was then that Harry realised that he wasn't saying anything, because he didn't know why he felt like this, he was only 7! Sometimes he forgot how young Teddy actually was. He was very advanced for his age, taking the best qualities of both his parents.

"I think Teddy should get his Christmas present early," said Ginny. Harry had forgotten that she was still there, and nodded. Agreeing that it was a good idea. She went over to the sideboard and picked up a book from the sideboard. "Teddy," she said. He pulled himself away from Harry and sat down, so that Teddy was sitting between them.

"We were going to give this to you for Christmas. It's pictures of your parents. Your uncle Harry has one of his parents, and whenever he felt sad he would look at the pictures and feel closer to them." Teddy opened the photo album on his lap and opened it to a picture of Tonks and Lupin sitting in Andromeda's garden. Tonks was very pregnant and smiling at the camera, Lupin sitting next to her.

Teddy touched the picture, as if willing them to come alive, but said nothing.

"Would they be proud of me?" He asked very quietly, a single tear running down his cheek.

Harry spoke, "Definitely, there's no doubt of that. If you want we can visit their grave on the weekend. Would you like that?"

Teddy nodded, "Gran doesn't speak about them, it upsets her," he said. Teddy was very perceptive for someone of his age, which was a good thing sometimes. Then at other times, like when they had spent 20 minutes trying to get him to eat his greens, they had told him about all the starving children in the world, and he had asked them to name four. So that he could post his food to them, he was too clever for his own good.

"Anything you want to know, you can ask us. We care about you very much. When you get angry, you can talk to us. It does help," said Harry.

"Do you want responsibility for painting a part of the nursery?" Asked Ginny, glancing at the rocking chair still in the corner of the living room. "Seeing as you're going to be a big brother, and one of the most important people in the baby's life," she said rubbing her stomach. "It would be all yours, as a present for the baby." Teddy loved the prospect, excitedly planning what he was going to do with his part of the nursery. It as a way for him to be involved and feel part of the family.

"As long as you promise us never to worry about these things, you can speak to us any time, we are always here," said Harry.

Later that night, when Teddy had gone home to Andromeda's, they agreed that it was a good idea for Teddy to visit his parent's graves on the weekend. He had never been before. It had taken Harry until 17.

_Thank you to my beta, you still rule!_

_Please review, I love every review. I will get back to the pregnancy more on the next chapter, but i just had to write this, apologies that it's slightly off the theme. _


	6. Chapter 6

Ginny placed the bag of paint on the floor and sat with her back to the cafe, as she always did. It had started as a way to not get noticed, but had now become a habit. Luna sat on the opposite side of the table, looking out into the cafe.

"Thanks for saying you'll help paint the mural, Luna."

" It's OK, I've got to wait until the mating season before looking for crumple horned snorkack, and as dad's away," and her voice lowered, as if telling a secret, " it can sometimes get lonely."

"Luna you're welcome around our place any time," said Ginny. As she said it a thought ran through her head, Harry was late, he was supposed to meet them here. She looked up at Luna, who just said,

"That's a very kind offer," and it seemed to cheer her up, as her eyes seemed to sparkle.

"It was kind of you to offer to help paint the nursery," said Ginny, matter of factly. Why did Luna think this was such a kind offer? A waitress came up, blowing the loose hair away from her face, that had escaped her severe bun. She gave them menu's and was called to another table, leaving Luna and Ginny to make their choices. As she walked away Ginny noticed a guy sitting in the corner. He had been in the paint shop as well. He was probably a reporter. She got nervous. She had a good mind to leave, but Harry was going to meet them here.

"How are you?" Said Luna, indicating to Ginny's stomach.

"I'm fine. Sickness has almost stopped. Now I'm just tired and getting bigger," then she remembered. "Oh, I had my scan, do you want to see the picture?" Luna nodded, excitedly. Ginny pulled the copy of her scan picture out of her bag, handing it to Luna. She stared at the picture, using a strange expression. After she drew her eyes away she said.

"It's exciting isn't it?" It was not the reaction she had expected from Luna. It was too "normal".

"You did read the article I sent you about the Glazeng conspiracy?" She asked. This is the Luna she had expected.

"Yes, and I took Lumsfelf before I went, so that they couldn't put a trace on the baby." She lied badly, but it was easier that hurting Luna by telling her what she really felt about the article.

"I wouldn't want anything to happen to you," said Luna handing back the scan. If there was one thing you could say about Luna it was that she always cared about her friends.

The waitress came over and they ordered their meals, and she brought their salads almost immediately. As they sat Luna was telling her about her latest trip, her guide was Rolf Scamander himself. She had just got to the the part about hiking up a mountain (apparently snorkacks liked heights) when her eyes snapped up past Ginny's eyeline and then snapped back to her. When Luna stopped for a breath Ginny said, "Harry's behind me isn't he?" Luna didn't say anything, Ginny had always assumed she didn't have the capacity to lie, so she bit her bottom lip. Then a voice she knew very well said.

"I always knew you should be an auror," he said, grabbing a chair next to Ginny.

" You alright, you're late?" She asked.

"Yeah, fine. I was late this morning, so I could hardly leave a meeting early for lunch." He said, stealing some of her tomatoes. Luna clapped her hands together and squealed, " Ooh, morning sex," smiling and looking between them. Harry dissolved into a flood of giggles and Ginny kicked him under the table.

"Sorry about this Luna. He's had an attack of wrackspurt," said Ginny.

" Oh, I thought I saw some floating around here," she said absent mindedly.

"But when you say things like that, can you keep it down?" Said Ginny. Looking over at where the reporter was and saw that he had gone. At least that was one good thing.

"It's hardly a secret, you're pregnant," said Luna. You couldn't fault her logic.

XXXXXXXX

When they separated from Luna, Harry and Ginny decided to go to visit George and Ron at the shop before flooing home. Luna would be the paint over tomorrow to start on the nursery.They were holding hands, the only socially acceptable way of touching in public without being on the front page under the heading: " Potter's Passion". The reporter from the shop had disappeared and they hadn't seen anybody else, but you could never be to sure. At that point her thoughts were broken when Harry pulled her into an alleyway besides one of the shops and pushed her against the wall, kissing her passionately.

"I've been wanting to do that for the last twenty minutes" said Harry, brushing his fingers through her hair.

"Me too," she said, "How long have you got left for lunch?" She said, he looked at her quizzically and glanced at the watch on her free hand (her other hand, was now running through his hair.)

"Forty minutes," he said. "Why?" he added

"What about we skip meeting my brothers and have a repeat of this morning." Putting her hands on his neck and pulling his face back down to meet her lips.

"I like this new randy Ginny," said Harry, smiling at her once their lips separated.

"Don't get used to it, when I'm as big as a house you won't be getting much, or wanting much from me." She said.

"Is that you're way of telling me you're scared that I won't fancy you when you're bigger?" he asked. Ginny said nothing, just stared at him. "I'd fancy you whatever size you are, besides you're, you're..." and he was searching for the words, " growing our baby." He said, rather pleased with himself. " I can't think of anything sexier," he said, placing his hand on her stomach, over her jumper. It was a mild winter and she had a scarf and gloves on, so she had left her coat open.

" You see that as a bonus?" She asked.

" No, I see these as a bonus," he said, slipping his hands under her jumper to her breasts. "Pervert," she said and slapped his hands away. Then in a very good imitation of her mother's voice she said,

"Kindly act appropriately in public." He shuddered.

"Don't do that. It's just wrong," he said. "When I'm thinking of certain things, I don't want to hear your mother's voice. But to answer your question I love everything about you. I love the fact you stick out your tongue out when conversation gets too heavy. I love that you can beat your brothers at virtually any game. I even love your bat bogey hex," he said. Kissing her neck. "Those" kiss "things" kiss "aren't" kiss "going to change."

"You're so corny," she said kissing him. " You do know we're wasting valuable time though," she said.

"Definitely," he smiled back," Guess I'll just have to be late back from lunch as well." And they walked out of the alleyway, Ginny with her hand in Harry's back pocket, like Luna said it was hardly a secret. Let them print the headlines.

_Apologies for the chapter, it was written through a haze of antibitoics and pain killers due to an impacted tooth. Hopefully it's not to to bad. _


	7. Chapter 7

Ginny sat at Harry's desk, unsure of what to do now. Her eyes gazed over the piles of parchments and she saw the two framed photographs on his desk. The first one was of her and Harry on their wedding day. She was sitting on Harry's lap, he whispered in her ear, she smiled, and laid her head to rest on his shoulder. The other was of her, Harry and Teddy stretching their mouths with their fingers and sticking their tongues out toward the camera. It had been taken at Teddy's birthday party by Andromeda, she didn't remember what the joke was now. She had a feeling it was to do with frogs, but it didn't really matter now. They seemed so carefree. Usually looking at memories like this would affect her, but at this moment she just felt numb. Everything had a different meaning. She looked over at Fitzjohn's desk instead. With Harry's promotion he got a shared office, instead of having a small desk in the cramped open plan office. Fitzjohn had a posed picture of his wife and child. ( It was in a babygrow and was newborn so impossible to tell if it was a boy or girl), grinning innately at the camera. For an instant Ginny wanted to smash the glass and rip the picture up due to the injustice.

She felt a presence in the room and looked up. Harry was standing in the doorway. He didn't know what to say either, so they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality could have been ten seconds or ten minutes. Time became an irrelevance. Harry broke the silence first. "Have you seen him before?" he asked. She knew then that he had been told everything. She still couldn't bear to speak, so just nodded. He walked into the room and she stood up to meet him. They met in the middle of the room and held each other, Harry brushed her long hair away from his face, but kept his fingers there, stroking her hair. She assumed to comfort her. Harry spoke again, in a monotone voice that reminded her of the other auror's who had interviewed her.

" They said we should move to a safe house for a while, until they check the wards and all the objects in the house for dark magic." Ginny stood back, away from him and looked at his face.

"This isn't your job you know, don't act so matter-of-fact. This is a planned kidnap attempt of your wife and unborn child. Do something, get angry, cry. I don't care what, just do something." She said and looked down at his feet, instead of his face. As the words left her mouth, she knew she shouldn't have said them. It just wasn't the reaction she had expected from him.

He shouted back, "What do you want? You want me to be angry because I'm famous for something I never asked for. Something I had no control over and some group of, I can't even think of a rude enough word, want to exploit that by taking away the only good things that happened to me. You want me to say it's all my fault. Because that's how I feel. " Jean, one of the auror secretaries got up from her desk and came and closed the door. Everybody knew that all closed doors in the building were soundproofed and no listening equipment would work, due to the sensitive nature of auror conversations. They were grateful for the interruption. After it closed, Ginny's eyes swung back to Harry. His eyes were nervously twitching back and forth, one of his nervous ticks.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what I'm saying. I would never think it's your fault. I'm angry at them for spoiling this for us. It's them we need to get angry at, not each other. Getting angry at each other is counter-productive."

"Agreed," he said, his anger subsiding. " Sorry for shouting at you. I don't really know how to cope with this. It's all new to me to," he said. " Nobody will tell me anything, I'm not allowed anywhere near the case, and I've been put on compassionate leave."

She looked at him, and words seemed useless so she just said, "Harry," touching his face. He pulled back and grabbed a chair, taking the one from Fitzjohn's desk. "Don't shut me out again," she said, he assumed that she was referring to his last year of school, or rather not at school.

"What else do you want me to say?" He said, looking drained. Ginny would have normally sat on his lap and comforted him, but with bump rapidly becoming a beach ball, that wasn't an option. So she wheeled the chair over from his desk. She took his hand. "My dad told me a muggle saying once. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." When he gave no reaction she said, "You know they would never have stood a chance if they came near us," she said indicating to her stomach. " I was taught defence by the best," he looked at her and she knew he was confused. "Do the letters DA mean anything to you?" She asked. He gave a small chuckle, but it was tinged with weariness. This wasn't what she had expected, she had been angry before, but seeing Harry blame himself for this upset her, and she wanted to make things right. Her anger would resurface, but now was not the time.

"When did you see him?" Harry asked. She said nothing, dumbfounded. "I want to know how close they got," he said.

" That guy I saw in the line up, I saw him a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping with Luna, and in the cafe afterwards. I assumed he was a reporter," she said.

"They've known for months about the plan. Aurors have been following them since before the scan, just in case the reports were true, and you were pregnant. Everybody here couldn't tell me, as I was personally involved. When they told me, it all started to make sense, the conversations that stopped when I entered a room, not being on this big secret investigation..."

"So I get you to myself for a few weeks." She said interrupting him, harking back to what he had said earlier. "It doesn't do well to dwell," she said, explaining herself. Dumbledores voice rang in his head at that point, reminding him of his first year. He looked at her, and she could see behind his eyes that he seemed more alive. She knew that he would always blame himself though.

"Yeah, until we can come back from the safe house."

" How long will that take?" She asked.

"I don't know a week or two, usually," he said. She just grinned, which seemed to spread across his face as well.

"Just one question. How do you do this everyday?" She asked.

"I don't know," he said and paused to think. "I guess it's just my saving people thing." said Harry.

_Thank you to my beta, you're brill as usual._


	8. Chapter 8

Harry was standing in a dark corridor, with hundreds of doors leading off. There was a strip light above each door, only illuminating the door and nothing else. The doors went on for miles. A baby's cry punctuated the air. He knew he had to find it, protect it. He desperately tried the first door, but found it impossible to unlock. The crying was getting louder and was an almost unbearable pitch. The sound was coming from further up the corridor. He ran up the corridor until he found the source of the noise, and the only door with a light shining through the gap underneath the door. (that he had seen). He opened it slowly, and almost as soon as he put his hand on the door handle, the crying stopped.

He opened the door slowly, wand outstretched for whatever was inside. The room was bare. He stepped into the room and the door closed itself behind him, leaving only the sound of creaky hinges . The floor started to shake. And a fat, happy child in just a nappy crawled towards him. Unfortunately the child was also the size of Gawp. He tried to grab Harry.

" da da", "da da" it said. He managed to swerve the grip of the child and escape through the door. He wiped the sweat from his brow and concentrated on what to do now. He had the feeling he had to go on, looking for something undefinable. For some reason he tried the next door. As he stepped in he was surrounded by masked death eaters. He had also, interestingly, become wandless. Twenty wands were pointed at him.

"We have your wife and child" the main death eater, standing at the front of the circle. He looked around, looking for their weak spot, he knew from auror training that there always was a weak spot.

"What do you want them for?" he asked.

"We have no choice, the heir of the murderer must be destroyed. And at no finer place than at the location of the previous rebirth of the dark lord" the main death eater said . It was then that it occurred to him that he was in that graveyard, a graveyard he hadn't seen since the end of his fourth year.

"Show me" said Harry. His training has told him never to accept something your enemy told you. Two death eaters stepped forward from the shadows, one with a wand at Ginny's throat, and the other one with a wand pointed at what appeared to be a mass of blankets. Ginny clothes and face were covered in dust and dirt, and her face showed signs of old and new bruises. She mouthed "Don't" at him, knowing that he was going to do something.

"No" he screamed and moved forward. The death eaters behind him held him back. He could swear he could see a smile under the main death eaters mask, although this could never be seen, it was just his imagination. He motioned and the bundle of blankets which was now making a gurgling sound, was placed on the grave of Tom Riddle. His magic wasn't working, no matter how much he tried. He couldn't stop them.

"Ava.." screamed the death eater

He woke up, sweating profusely. He sat up and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table. They were on top of a Daily prophet with the headline "Kidnap attempt" and a picture of him and Ginny underneath.. His heart was still beating fast, he got his bearings and looked at the sleeping Ginny, lying next to him. She had been finding it hard to sleep recently. She always felt uncomfortable and her back hurt. She claimed the baby kicking didn't keep her awake, but Harry was unsure if she was telling the truth

. The baby had started kicking a few days after they had moved into the safehouse. Ginny had insisted on cleaning the house thoroughly. She was dressed in a big baggy Harpies top and Jogging bottoms with a bandada covering her hair.

"Harry" she screamed from downstairs. He ran down the stairs, wand in his hand and jumping 3 or 4 steps at a time. She was standing in the middle of the room, duster in hand (She had insisted, possibly due to her hormones, that cleaning charms weren't working well enough). The air was thick with dust. If it had been a summers day, he'd of seen flying everywhere but it was a dark, damp winters day and he could just smell that musky dusty smell.

" What?" he asked looking around, looking for the source of panic. His wand pointed in front of him. She said nothing, just smiled. She took his hand and placed it on bump. Nothing happened and he looked at her. "What?" he asked. Then bump kicked. Harry's breath stopped for a few seconds. He couldn't find any words until he said " Merlin, that's..."he said, Ginny's face spread into a wide smile.

"Bump's kicking" she said.

"That's, That's amazing" he said, finding the word. His smile so wide you could post mail through it. They had forgotten cleaning and had spent the rest of the day "bump watching", sitting and talking on the sofa. Ginny had been feeling what she felt were kicks for about a week, she had only been sure this morning, when she felt the stronger kick. Ginny was sure that the turn of events had helped to ease his mind, and hoped he stayed like that.

That had been three weeks ago and Ginny and Harry were both restless and eager to return home and back to their normal routines. Ginny missed the quidditch matches, although she could still hear them over the radio. Harry hated being out of the loop, and was desperate for any scrap of information. Ginny's top had ridden up in her sleep and exposed her stomach. She insisted on wearing a strappy top and shorts to bed in December. If she wasn't carrying their child, he'd think she was mad. He touched bump, and felt the heat rising ( He did unudersand that she was always hot now) from her, and also kicks. He whispered to her stomach

"Hey, bump, let you mum get some sleep. She deserves it" he said. He had tried to speak to the baby before, but he could never find the words and felt stupid. But at this time of night, when he wasn't thinking about it, words just flowed. "You're be alright won't you? I'll do everything I can to protect you. Even die, like my parents, like Teddy's parents. Things won't go that far this time though. They made this world safer. For you and me" he took a breath.

"Consequently I don't have much family, but your mum makes up for that, she's got six brothers, no five " he corrected himself. He was suddenly reminded of what they had both lost. he decided to concentrate on the future, not the past and continued "most of them are married with their own children to. You've got a lot of people waiting for you to arrive. You're going to be well loved"

. "You know I'm scared for you. There are people who tried to take you away already. I'm never going to let anything happen to you. But you leave my side for one minute and you're in big trouble" he half joked.

" I sometimes wonder who you're going to look like" he said, changing the subject. "What hair colour you're have, what colour eye's you have, what type of personality you're have. Don't tell your mum that I said this, but we've both got short tempers. Are you going to inherit that? What quidditch position will you play? Will you even like quidditch? There are so many things I'm dying to find out about you, that only time will tell" he sighed. The thread of what was saying left him. He found himself speaking without realising.

"Now that we're acquainted will you tell me a secret" he said and he said in a lower whisper "one kick if you're a girl, two for a boy, just don't tell your mum" he smiled and felt lots of kicks, which he took to mean two. Harry grinned and looked up at Ginny's face to check that she was still asleep. She was. Harry looked back down at bump, and kissed her stomach.

" Get some sleep bump, you've got a lot off growing before we meet you". He went back to sleep and he couldn't remember the rest of his dreams but he was sure they involved a Christmas tree and a little boy in a carry cot, completely different from his dreams earlier that night.

_Apologies for spelling mistakes, i can't get in touch with my beta. _

_Thank you to everybody for commenting and continuing to read._


	9. Chapter 9

Harry was standing in the kitchen, cooking. Ginny always invited people round and it always seemed to be him who cooked. She couldn't blame her pregnancy, as this had always happened. Before it was because he didn't share his house, so meals were at his house, therefore he seemed to cook. After they had got married she never had time, running around with her Quidditch duties or her family. Now her back ached if she was in one place for to long due to her pregnancy. He couldn't complain though, she definitely did enough around the house. In fact now that it was harder for her, she seemed to want to do more.

She was sitting in the living room, pretending to be interested in the book she was reading, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't reading and was drifting off thinking about other things. The potatoes had been magically peeled and he chucked the paper in the rubbish. The headline stating "20 years for kidnappers" was still visible. He had gone to the trial. Many people told him not to, but the Gryffindor bravado overtook him and he needed to know. There was no question of Ginny going, as she was a witness, confirming her sighting of the guy in the café. He thought it better she didn't go anyway, she was stressed enough with the trial, the media and Teddy being so clingy now that they were back. He was scared about them leaving again. It had been so quick, they couldn't even say goodbye before they had left and now he was scared it would happen again. She only had a month to go before the baby was born and she felt huge and "hemmed in". She had always loved her independence and it was frustrating to her to know she couldn't do things.

Everything was ready for the arrival. They moved back into the house two weeks ago, the nursery had been painted. Luna had painted a beautiful farmyard and charmed it so the animals ran around. Ginny's favourite was the lamb, who came and frolicked at the front of the mural. Teddy had painted him and his "brother"- he had decided it was a boy and couldn't be persuaded that it could be otherwise- visiting the farmyard. Due to the charm they occasionally scratched their noses. Harry had come home to find Ginny sitting in the rocking chair just watching the room one day, mesmerised by the responsibility they were both taking on.

He looked over and saw Ginny trying to get up off the sofa, he walked over to help her and she gave him a look. A look he was beginning to know very well. A look that said, without words, "You dare try to help me before I ask, and you may lose certain appendages. The appendages that got me pregnant in the first place " so he backed away, his Gryffindor bravado evading him this time. She eventually got up, by pushing herself off the side of the sofa and lifting from her knees. She had been repeatedly told not to, but she always did.

"You OK" he asked.

"Yeah, just need to move for a bit" she said pacing the room. He walked behind her and run his hands over her back, massaging her back. She stopped for him.

"mmm" was all she said for a while. " thank you" she said. Turning her head slightly and kissing his cheek. "What's for tea?, smells nice" she said, starting to pace the room again.

"Chicken, nothing special it's only Ron and Hermione" he said. At that second the doorbell rang.

"Speak of the devil" he said. Going to the front door.

"Hi" he said and motioned towards the living room. Ron and Hermione trudged through to the living room.

"Hey Ginny" they said as they stepped though. Hermione patted her stomach as a greeting, Ginny forced herself to paint a smile on her face. It drove her crazy that all people cared about was the baby, she had somehow ceased to be a person. She just wanted a normal conversation, nothing to do with babies.

Harry slipped away to the kitchen to check on the food. Ginny came in to get the drinks from the fridge. Harry banged the oven door closed and stood up. Ginny was standing behind him, smiling at him. He kissed her. Not a word was spoken. Ron stood in the doorway. "I know what happens, I just don't need to see it" he teased.

Ginny broke apart and said "Grow up Ron"as she separated from Harry, winked at Harry and left the room.

" Is she Ok?" he asked pointing his thumb towards where Ginny had just left the room. It was an appropriate question, she had been rather abrupt.

"Yeah, tired, her back hurts, but she's OK" he said as he looked up and smiled at her across the room chatting to Hermione. For some reason, she knew she was being watched and she looked up and smiled back. Hermione carried on talking, but touched her hand to get her attention again. Ron, having followed Harry's eyeline, rolled his eyes

"Do you two ever stop that? It's enough to put me off my food"

"Nothing ever puts you off food" said Harry

"True, one of my many talents" said Ron.

"How's Hermione?" said Harry, changing the subject. A discussion on Ron's talents was not what he had in mind.

"Yeah, fine, she's OK" he said, and his expression changed from his usual jokey self. He got the feeling he shouldn't of changed the subject. He wasn't used to Ron acting like this.

"What's the matter with Hermione?" asked Harry. "You can be serious with me" he said, interested in the change of tone in the conversation. Ron turned round and saw Ginny and Hermione talking on the other side of the room. When he seemed confident that he couldn't be overheard.

"Hermionie, she wants.."He stopped unsure of what to say. He shuffled his feet and looked down at the floor. "It's a bit personal" he said.

"Ok" said Harry.

Ron sighed. " Before Ginny" he struggled out before he went bright red. "got pregnant" he said turning into a tomato "were you, you know, trying" he said.

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with Hermione?" he said. Then it all became clear to him. Had he been so stupid that he hadn't noticed it?

"How long" said Ron, now so red it was impossible for him to get any redder.

" A few weeks, but you know it happens when it happens. It's not something you can really plan. Don't get to scared. Just give it time" he said. Kicking Ron's foot with his to show support.

"Listen, you won't tell anyone else will you ?" said Ron. His face slowly returning to it's natural colour.

"No, don't worry" said Harry.

"Don't worry about what?" said Hermione, standing in the doorway.

"Quidditch, nothing important" said Ron smiling at her and kissing her forehead. He seemed at ease lying to her, but only to protect her. He assumed if she'd of known what they were talking about, she'd of killed them, the muggle way, to inflict most pain. She looked at them, strangely and grabbed the tissues from the side, then walked back towards Ginny. She looked suspicious and knew something was going on, but she couldn't define it. If she had known what they had been talking about, after she killed them, she would be surprised that men spoke to each other like that. She hadn't ever mentioned anything about it to Ginny, especially in her condition. She might not understand, she'd known how fast it happened for Harry and Ginny. Hermione was not one to give up, she never had before and she wasn't going to now.

_Aplogies for any spelling mistakes, i'am still without beta. _


	10. Chapter 10

Sitting on the bench in the snake house took her back nine months. She smiled and rubbed her stomach as another one of those practice contractions ran through her. She'd been getting them on and off for a week now, she wasn't due for another two weeks! At least they didn't hurt, just made her uncomfortable. She'd read the word for them in a muggle book Hermione had given her but the word escaped her at this moment. With that and the ceaseless kicking it was hard to concentrate on the book she was holding. They had both said that the baby was going to be a beater, the amount it liked to punch and kick her insides. Either that or bump was just as impatient to be born as Ginny was to have the baby born. Earlier that morning she'd teased bump by putting a cold glass on her stomach for bump to kick away, then tickling the hands or feet that appeared, so she figured this was her comeuppance.

Teddy was looking into the glass, staring at the snakes. She knew she shouldn't be here, she had promised Harry, Andromodea and her mother that she'd stay put in the house, nice and close to a floo, in case anything happened. She was restless, bored and sick and tired of being mollycoddled. There came another contraction. Thank Merlin Teddy was more interested in the snakes. She shuffled around on the seat, trying to get comfy.

He had asked her how long it would take to meet his brother this morning. Ginny had told him about two weeks. He asked how many days, she had said possibly 14, but baby's tend to come when they're ready. He had looked confused and asked her to show him how many fingers were 14. She had shown him all his fingers and then said and these and showed him another four. He had looked annoyed. "That's ages" he said and then went back to the colouring he was doing. She knew how frustrated he was, she and Harry had the same feelings, it had been a stressful and long enough wait already. How her mother did this six times, once with twins, she will never know. It gave her a extra type of respect for her mother that she could do this with six other children around as well.

Teddy looked back as she shifted in the seat, trying to get comfortable, but it was pretty much impossible. He smiled and turned back to the snakes. He was getting as protective as her mother and Harry. It was cute actually.

Another contraction ripped through her. Damm Braxton Hicks contractions (as all the muggle books Hermione had leant her had called them. The word had just appeared in her head) . She put her book in her bag, took a bottle of water and got up, pacing up and down for five minutes. Moving usually helped. "Auntie Ginny, look" said Teddy. She turned round to walk over to him and she felt something warm run down her leg. Teddy began to laugh but at that point it occurred to her what was happening. The baby was coming.

"Auntie Ginny the toilet's are over there" Teddy said pointing to the doorway outside. She had stopped, open mouthed. She didn't know what to do. No, she knew what to do. She tried to get her head straight. She tried to walk over to her bag, but a contraction gripped her. This was defiantly different from before. Her stomach muscles at the front tightened as well. That was new. They were getting closer and stronger. Teddy saw the pain on her face straight away, as she gripped the viewing bar in front of her, dropping her bottle of water. He stopped laughing and ran to her.

"Auntie Ginny, Auntie Ginny. What's happening? What's the matter?" The contraction died down and she grabbed Teddy, holding him close to her, ruffling her hair, trying to be calm, mostly for him.

" Teddy, will you get my bag for me?"

" Are you OK auntie Ginny?"

"I'm fine. The baby is coming and I just need my wand to tell everybody" His hair immediately changed to a bright pink that indicated that he was nervous and excited. She let him go from her arms and he sprinted over to the bench where her bag was. He reached it in two moves and brought it back to Ginny.

"Thanks" she said kissing the top of his head. She Cast the spell, sending her patronus to Harry at work, her mother at home, Andromeda at the restaurant and Hermione at work, to cover all bases. She knew there was staff outside, she could easily get help, but somebody would apparate here first. The muggles would send her to a muggle hospital. She had read in Hermione's book about them cutting out the baby, that was never going to happen to her. Teddy put his hand in hers scared about what's going to happen. Ginny gripped it, hoping to help him cope. She was due another contraction, it was bound to happen soon. She would let go when it started, she didn't want to scare him. It started as her mum ran into the snake house.

"Ginny, Ginny" she said as she engulfed her and Teddy in her arms. " Can you stand, we need to get to St Mungo's"Ginny didn't say anything, just nodded. She stood up and her mother apparated all three of them to St Mungo's. The shop dummy was still there, awaiting instructions. Molly Weasley snapped "maternity" with some distaste, and it let them through.

XXXXXXXXX

Harry heard the noise of the Weasley family first, before he arrived a the maternity unit. He was running, but could still make out Molly saying " Takes after the other side, they all had quick, easy births. Eighteen hours I was with Ron" and Teddy saying "I helped, I got the wand" to everybody. The rest just blended together into a hub of noise. He burst through the double doors and everybody turned to stare. He stopped, panting, not sure what to do next. Mrs Weasley was the first to speak. "Where have you been? Nevermind, she's in room 2. The healer says it's going to be anytime soon, so you better scoot" she said pushing him through the door.

He was sure he heard Ron say "good luck" and Teddy managed to say "Uncle Harry, I helped, I..." before Andromeda stopped him. He was back at reception and was guided by the receptionist towards room 2, conveniently in the direction that Mrs Weasley had pushed him. The receptionist gave him a spell to open the door. He wished he hadn't of gone out for lunch and been out of the office. He had come as soon as he reached the office, but the patronus had been sent just as he left said Jean as he apparated out. Ginny was lying on the bed, Healer Smith casting various anti-pain charms, and charms to check on the baby. Ginny was shouting

" I'm not pushing until Harry's here" before screaming out in pain again. Thank merlin these doors were charmed so that no sound could be heard outside.

" Seems like you haven't got much choice, It's seems the baby's got other ideas" said the healer.

" Gin, i'm here" said Harry, walking over and grabbing her hand.

She managed to speak through her short breaths, " Where in merlin's pants have you been?" before she screamed again. He looked at the healer, scared, wondering if there's anything he can do. He knew from the look on Ginny's face that if he said anything else he'd get the bat bogey hex, and they wouldn't be coming out of his nose.

XXXXXXXXXX

An hour later he stepped into the waiting room again, full of Weasleys, his hands still visibly shaking. Everybody turned.

" What is it Harry?" he was asked, he didn't register whose voice it was, it didn't really matter. His brain was elsewhere, he was a father!

"It's a tiny baby" he said.

George pipped up " Damn, i just lost my money. I was expecting a Hippograph" Mrs Weasley hit him round the head. Mrs Weasley touched Harry's hand to calm him down.

"Is it a boy or a girl Harry?" she asked in a soft voice. He stopped floating and came back to the ground.

"It's a boy" he said, suddenly aware of his surroundings. Mrs Weasley engulfed him in one of her bear hugs, as the rest of the family congratulated him, slapping him on the back.

"Have you decided on a name?" said Hermione

"Not yet, give us time" In fact there had hardly been any time. Time had frozen since he was born and placed in Ginny's arms. But strangely, he now couldn't remember life before it. It seemed his new life started then and everything else had been wiped.

"The healer's say only a couple of people can visit at once. Who wants to visit?" and Teddy's hand shot up. All the other children hang onto their parents, they were much to cautious and the parents had been to shy to come forward.

Andromeda said " I think Molly should go with him" and looked at Molly. "We'll all get to see him eventually anyway" Molly thanked her as they went towards the door, Teddy pulling on Harry's trouser leg and saying

"Uncle Harry, I helped, I got the wand".

As he pushed the door open to Ginny's room he wanted it to be just them three again. The first half an hour, when they had been alone with him had been indescribable. They had sat together, watching him and debating whose features had taken. He was definitely a good mixture of the both of them, they had both decided as they had burnt his features into their memories. Other people's babies had never really interested him but this baby was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. Can you say beautiful for a boy? Handsome didn't quite fit. And he and Ginny had created him.

Teddy ran through the door and jumped up on to the bed that Ginny was sitting up in. "Teddy, calm down, I'm still a little sore" she said. He beamed up at her as he saw the baby in her arms.

"Hello" he said sticking his finger out for the baby to grab, it didn't seem interested and just started to cry. Ginny cradled him in her arms and rocked until he calmed down. "Is that all he does?" he asked as the baby became sleepy. Harry took him from her arms and put him in the hospital cot at the side of the her bed.

"At the moment, yes" said Ginny, deciding honesty was the best policy. Her voice muffled from her mothers hug.

"It's a bit boring isn't it? What were we all so excited about?"

XXXXXXXXXX

They had spent the rest of the day with visitors trekking through the door, trying to be quiet for the sleeping baby. Everybody kept asking for a name, they just had to say very politely that they hadn't decided yet. Ron named him " sleep, eat, dump" which was very helpful. Teddy had said Remus, they both looked at each other, rather poignantly at that point and told him to save that for his when he had children. Molly had suggested Arthur, Gideon or Fabian, they had felt guilty. Luna had visited with Rolf, Rolf obviously had no idea who Harry and Ginny were, asking them about their school days and jobs. Harry warmed to him for that. Luna said that the dinglefjord were flying around the baby and he'd have a happy life. Rolf politely reminded her that no evidence had ever been seen that they existed. They expected her to defend herself, but she just said " We'll find evidence though" and kissed him. They were good together he thought as he rocked the baby to sleep, standing by the window, looking up at the stars. Words were floating out of his mouth before he could think.

" Hey, mum and dad. This is your first grandchild" he said proudly showing the baby to the stars as it kicked in his arms. " He's a mixture between me and Gin. Ginny's my wife" he added without thinking. " I hope i've done you proud, I hope he does you proud". At that point he felt arms around his waist and lips kissing his neck. He had tried not to wake her, but had obviously been unsuccessful.

"You could never be a disappointment" she said.

"This is Ginny" he said.

She chuckled. It had been pretty obvious.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Potter" she said, up at the stars. Introducing herself to her in-laws for the first time. The day of the wedding Harry had visited his parents grave and Ginny, not wanting to impose had stayed away.

"Don't you think we all need our sleep?" she said, once she realised that he had stopped talking, unsure of what to say next. He nodded and they went back towards the bed. Ginny took the baby and placed him in the cot. Harry was lying in the bed when she turned around. He shouldn't be there but she didn't care. What could the hospital do, chuck them out? She snuggled in next to him and took his hand as he turned over, pulling her closer. She whispered in his ear "Lets call him James" but Harry had already drifted off to sleep. She took his glasses off, kissed his forehead They'd discuss it in the morning.

_Thank you to everybody who was kept reading and thank you to everybody who reviewed, it's been so encrouging._

_Apologies if i went overboard with the fluff, i couldn't help myself._

_Creative touch, i half wrote a Ginny in peril labour and i'am going to finish it. I can PM you it if you want._

_There's one more chapter, so if you have any ideas for what you want me to write either review or PM me._


	11. Chapter 11

The glint caught her eye as she bent down to pick up the bottle James had thrown. She managed to fit her slim fingers in the space between the fridge and wall and pull out what was there. It was a framed copy of the Prophet the day after James birth. The headline being "Potter Birth". They were still using the old Harpies picture of her and Harry's picture from when he joined the ministry. She remembered Luna giving them this as a present at the party. It had been a joint naming ceremony for James and birthday party for Harry. The day was the naming ceremony and in the evening the adults had returned to Grimauld place and celebrated Harry's birthday. It had been the first time she had left James and had been frantically flooing every five minutes, making her mother go into his room to check he was still breathing. In her head, she had known he would be fine, but there had been this irrational fear stalking her. He had been only 4 months old though! Was that really three months ago? it seemed liked days.

A plastic spoon hit the floor and she heard James giggle and slap his hands together, clapping, "James, my purpose in life is not to fetch for you" she said as she put the frame away in the same place. She smiled as she remembered Harry's face when Luna gave them the picture. He had been so embarrassed! She was surprised she hadn't seen it hidden there yet though.

The day it was published, she had seen that headline. She had still been in the hospital. Waking up to the voice of the nurses "sleeping in the same bed. Seems like they couldn't wait. And after all those rumours I'd heard about him and other men. I heard he was secretly in love with her brother". Then they stopped talking as Teddy bounded down the corridor, running as usual. He had a certain unmistakable noise that followed him. Usually with things falling over behind him, he must get it from Tonks. He bounded in, not knocking on the door before jumping on the bed. " Uncle Harry, Auntie Ginny, you're in the newspaper".

She giggled to herself whilst putting the bottle and spoon in the washing up bowl, she turned round to James. He had managed to put his fingers in his food and then rake it through his hair. A big smile was on his face and he was holding out his chubby hands to be picked up. They were still caked in sticky baby food as well. Why did he have to get his table manners from Ron ? She hoped he would get better with age.

"Looks like you're having a bath before bedtime, little man" she said. Picking the wipes from the side and wiping his hands and face as best she could before picking him up from his high chair and putting him on her hip.

"Da, da" James babbled to himself as they went up the stairs. He did that a lot now, Harry had got so excited when he heard him say that. Then he just started calling everyone "Da", including Neville and Ron and it just didn't seem as monumental. Harry could still revel in the fact that "Da" was his first word, not "Ma". He kept on babbling and kicking his feet out. It didn't make any sense, just loads of random noises. She ran the bath and went to get his towel from the cupboard. She took him back to the bathroom, casting a warming spell on the floor and towel as she laid him out. He started to wriggle and kick as he wanted to crawl away. She was pleased when the clothes were finally off him and she laid him in the bath. She washed his hair and sat on the laundry basket, watching him playing with his rubber duck in the bath, a present from Ginny's dad.

She was going to have to tell Harry tonight. She had lied to Hermione, telling her the potion was negative. Hermione had come round earlier that day, begging her to test the pregnancy potion, as it was positive for her and she needed confirmation she had brewed it right (of course she had, she was Hermione!). Ginny had tried to cry off claiming her hormones weren't back to normal after James (which was true) but Hermione had insisted. When it came out positive she had to think. Had she been that stupid? If there was one thing she was sure of, she wasn't going to be her mother, with loads of kids. It just wasn't her nature. They'd just be more careful next time, maybe this time was her fault. She hadn't been taking her potion as you needed to know the date of your cycle and that hadn't properly started again. They must of forgotten to use the charm one night as they were so tired. James splashed and kicked and brought her back to the room. "Hey, calm down little man." she said. She picked him up from the bath and wrapped him a towel. " What do you think your daddy's going to say?" she didn't intentionally verbalise her thoughts, they just slipped out of her mouth. She loved the smell of him after a bath. He made a squeal and pulled his fingers out of his mouth, managing to say something that sounded a bit like "nada".

" Yeah, I think so to" she said, playing with his hair, after she put the nappy on him.

" I'm not sure, what will I say?" said a voice from behind her. She recognised the voice straight away. "Harry, you're home" she said, as she turned, picking James up in the same motion, to see him leaning in the doorway.

"No, I'm Draco polyjuiced, Harry's still at work" he joked .

" What's your favourite type of jam?" reminding him of all those years ago.

He smiled, a wonky smile he occasionally got across his face, that she loved. She could forgive him anything for that smile. He broke her thoughts by saying "Strawberry".

She grinned back and stood up, leaned over and kissed him. James leant over for Harry to hold him instead of Ginny. As they separated, and Ginny passed him James, she said " Now I know it's really you." James wriggled and kicked in Harry's arms. He got excited whenever Harry came home, once he was writhing around and kicking so much, he had hit Harry in the face. He loved Teddy as well, Teddy had been trying to get him to say his name, constantly repeating "Teddy" around him and played this game with him by changing his hair colours. He'd put a hat on, change hair colour, and reveal this before replacing the hat and changing the hair colour again. James adored this and squealed whenever he saw a hat. Unfortunately after ten minutes it got boring for everybody else but James could watch for hours. Harry put him down, standing him on the floor, holding his hands so he was standing up.

" Do you want to try to walk James?". He obviously didn't so Ginny went to the door of the nursery, holding one of his toys, shaking the bell on the head of the clown to grab his attention. He started to walk, very unsteadily and moving each foot very slowly. They were clapping and encouraging him. He finally made it, grabbing onto the toy and grinning, some spit escaping from his mouth. She wiped it as she picked him up and said

" Who's a clever boy?" he grinned his toothless grin. It wouldn't be like that for long, he had started teething. Then he yawned and his head rolled to one side before waking him up again. " I think somebody needs to go sleep" she said. Harry stepped forward.

" I'll put him to sleep. You go and relax for a few minutes" she handed him over willingly, she was grateful for the time to be by herself, the only time she got now was when she was writing, and she either dropped him off at her mothers (which Mrs Weasley loved, she always spoiled James) or Harry was at home and took him out for the day to the park or swimming. She sometimes wished she could go, but then remembered that she spent all week with him and did those things with him anyway. It was good for them to do father/son things. If she didn't write she'd go mad. It was her only contact with the outside grown up world that didn't have anything to do with James. She reached downstairs quickly hearing James still babbling from upstairs. She walked into the kitchen and tapped the side of the kettle. Pouring a tea for her and picking a butterbear for Harry out of the fridge. Harry came down the stairs quickly. James was wiped out, unfortunately it meant he'd wake earlier. If he got to sleep faster, he always seemed to wake up just that bit earlier.

"What were you worrying about telling me?" he asked as he came into the kitchen, she passed him the butterbear.

" Nothing" she said as she turned round and picked James's bowl from the highchair and put in the washing up. A small voice in her head yelled " Chicken" as she moved the highchair back into the corner of the room. He was watching her as she turned back round.

" Done avoiding me now?" he asked. She could hear the water running and knew he had cast the washing up charm. He could always tell when she was holding something back. He pushed it , until she said that it was something she couldn't say and would back away as soon as she said. She didn't say anything, She wasn't allowed to tell him about Hermione, she had made Ginny promise not to tell anybody. Harry pulled a chair out from the big table in the kitchen and sat down. She walked over and sat in his lap, burying her face in his chest. Not crying, Ginny didn't cry. She sat in silence, tracing his chest, eventually tracing down his arm towards his hand "I must not tell lies" resonated through her as she knew what hand she was touching.

"Gin, please speak to me" he said, scared at her reluctance. It wasn't because it was him, if she said something, then it made it real, if she didn't then it wasn't really happening. She summoned up her Gryffindor courage. She knew that not telling him wouldn't really change anything. She took a deep breath, that sounded like a sigh to anybody listening to her. Her shoulders even physically moved as she relaxed. She knew he'd be happy. She didn't really relish having two baby's in such quick succession, but it was done now.

"Harry, I'm pregnant again. We must of forgotten the charm. I'm sorry" she said, avoiding his face.

He said nothing, she didn't know what to do, until his hand came to her face and he pushed her chin up so that their eyes met. "Sorry for what? Ginny, that's brilliant" the enthusiasm seeping into his face. A smile as wide as his face could take it. "I think this calls for a celebration" he said. Then he saw her face, "What's the matter, that's brilliant" he said, looking at her,. " Earlier than we both expected, but that doesn't matter" he shrugged.

" It's just, you do know that I'm not my mother and I don't want loads of children. I guess I just though we'd leave more time between children. Also, how are we going to be able to cope with two children under two?"

"Gin, you and James, and now number two" he affectionately patted her stomach " are the most important things to me, and I promise that's my only priority. Anything you need, just ask. As for coping, many people have children close together, we just get all the sleepless nights done in one long stretch."

It wasn't his words that added reassurance to her, it was a memory from a long time ago, the summer after the battle and she was holding Teddy in the rocking chair at Andromeda's. She had looked up and Harry was standing there, just watching them and she knew exactly what he was thinking, one day that would be their child and wondering what they would look like. She hadn't seen that look on his face before, but afterwards she had placed it as total contentment. He hadn't had many good times in his life and she had promised to herself that she would try to make him as happy as she could. He had said hat before the end of the war he hadn't allowed himself to think of the future, and now that was all he had. A future.

"Yeah, you're right, we've got a big family to help out as well" she said. "Just one thing, please don't call them number two, it makes me think of all the problems we had toilet training Teddy all those years ago"

_Thank you to everybody who kept reading, i cannot believe i've had that many nice reviews!! Thank you. _

_I was thinking of my next story, and i have a few ideas: A teddy story- scences from his life. AU H/G story as flatmates, H/G after the war, Albus finding out about the 2nd war (I understood from the epilogue that the kids don't know what their parents did). If you have a preference please review or PM me and i will endeavor to do my best. _

_Thanks to everyone._


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